Pages

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Top Ten Authors I'm Thankful For This Year

Thanks to The Broke and the Bookish for hosting such an amazing feature every week! Today we're looking at authors and books that we're thankful for. I do love Thanksgiving, as it seems to make people more aware of the cool stuff in our lives. It's always nice to give thanks.

I've chosen today to write about the authors whose books have made me particularly happy over the past year.

Rachel Hartman

One of my favourite books that I've read in 2012 so far (and the year is nearly over!) is Serpahina by Rachel Hartman. I love the fantasy world that was created, I loved the characters. I really loved falling into this story and being completely immersed in it for awhile. Dragons! It was exciting.

Seraphina is Rachel Hartman's debut book, and I'm hoping that we'll be seeing plenty more books from her and soon.

Tanya Byrne

I also read another debut book, this time by Tanya Byrne and it too is another favourite of the year. The book? Heart-Shaped Bruise. In the past week it's been nominated for a gazillion awards and things, so clearly it is not just me who is smitten with this beautifully written book about a girl in a young offenders institution telling her story of revenge.

I eagerly await anything else by Tanya Byrne!

Cat Clarke

Not only am I thankful to have read the gorgeous and emotional stories by Cat Clarke that are already published - Entangled and Torn - but I am thankful that it is not too long now to wait to read Cat's latest book, Undone. I am very excited!

I read Torn this past year and I loved it. It made me feel all the things. I love the very flawed characters and the bad decisions being made. I felt guilty and anxious and mixed up inside right along with the characters. I love that about Cat Clarke's books, that I'm dragged into the story so completely.

Julie Kagawa

Oh I do adore Julie Kagawa! The Iron Fey series is incredible, a series of books that really made me change my mind about fairies. But this past year I've read The Immortal Rules and also The Lost Prince, both of which I loved.

Before reading The Immortal Rules I was feeling a little bit weary of vampires, but again, Ms Kagawa changed my mind about them and made me excited once more. And I do love spin-off series. While I am less enamoured so far of this new series following Meghan's little brother, I will still wait anxiously for the next book in the series!

Sara Zarr

I am such a fan of Sara Zarr's. Last year I did my best to catch up with her backlist and I really loved that. With every new Sara Zarr book I've read, I whip myself into a frenzy for a new book! So I was very happy to read her latest, How To Save A Life this past year and I loved it.

I go on such a rollercoaster of emotions reading a book by Sara Zarr! I love how in How to Save a Life I really changed my mind about how I felt about both of the main characters by the end.

Morgan Matson

I really loved Amy and Roger's Epic Detour when I read it a few years ago. And while I was curious about Second Chance Summer, I wasn't DYING to read it. I was thinking it was going to be a light-hearted summer romance and I would read it and feel happy inside and then move on.

Oh, how wrong I was. The first half of the book was just as I thought it would be. And then it reached a certain point and my heart just broke. By the end of it, I was a sobbing mess and Morgan Matson was added to my list of favourite authors.

Courtney Summers

Courtney Summers is one of my favourite authors and I'm always thankful for her books! Especially Some Girls Are which ripped my heart out and had be uncontrollably crying for most of that reading experience. It was a good thing, I swear.

This year, I read her This Is Not a Test about a group of teenagers stuck in a high school with zombies all around them. While it isn't as wonderful-amazing as her contemporary novels, I still very much enjoyed it. And I will always look forward to her new books!

Melina Marchetta

I didn't read any book by Melina Marchetta for the first time this year, but it just felt wrong to write a list of authors I'm thankful for and not include her! Melina Marchetta IS my favourite author. Books like Saving Francesca, The Piper's Son and Jellicoe Road made me think and feel and cry.

I still have Finnikin of the Rock to read and I'm sure that I will get to it sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, I love Jonah Griggs.

Jennifer Echols

I do love a book by Jennifer Echols. She writes some amazing contemporary romances. I read two of her YA love stories this year - Such A Rush and The One That I Want. Neither one of them quite hit the highs of Going Too Far, but I still felt that tension and that pull on my heartstrings in both of them.

Especially Such a Rush. There's so much painful longing going on there as the main character is blackmailed into dating one brother when it's been the other brother that she's been crushing on for YEARS. What an awkward, fantastic situation to read about.

Cath Crowley

I love Cath Crowley! Graffiti Moon has to be the most beautiful book ever! And based on the strength of that gorgeous novel, I went out and bought A Little Wanting Song and finally got around to reading it this past year.

I really loved the dual-narrative of two very different girls and I was still surprised how emotionally invested I became in their wants and their feelings. A Little Wanting Song was such a fantastic book, about friendship and family and figuring stuff out. I really enjoyed it and I can't wait to read more from Cath Crowley!

Those are the authors that I'm especially thankful for this year! Which authors are you thankful for?

Oh Sophie. I cannot believe that you haven't yet read anything by Melina Marchetta! I don't usually choose a Number One Favourite Above Everyone Else, but Melina Marchetta really is my number one favourite author.

I am so desperate to read Rachel Hartman! And when I went into the bookstore to buy it, it was sold out!!! I have it on request at the library too. It sounds so fantastic, dragons and music, a lovely fantasy. I'm so glad you enjoyed it as much as everyone else who has read it so far this year.

What a great idea for a post. I personally only read Sara Zarr and Courtney Summers for the first time this year and am now hooked on their writing. My YAcker secret santa sent me Seraphina for Christmas so I'm VERY excited about discovering Rachel Hartman too!

Me Me Me

I've been running my book blog, Fluttering Butterflies, for the past (nearly) 9 years and have recently taken up booktubing on my own channel, cloveryness, as well as collaboratively with the Bookish Brits.